Did you know that Shakespeare is said to have invented over 1700 words that are in common use in the English language today, centuries later?
Some of my personal favourites are “dawn” (because it’s my middle name); fashionable; courtship and moonbeam (you can find more here.)
While not as prolific as Shakespeare, our family has invented a few words of our own over the years …
Hoghutch (noun) – This particular word dates back to about 1973, when I was 6 years old. I remember being incredibly annoyed and angry with my little sister who was being selfish and hogging a toy that I wanted. In frustration I burst out with the worst name I could think of: “You, you, HOGHUTCH!” (Back in those days I was completely innocent about swear words, so this filled the bill nicely).
Used in a sentence: “Johny is such a hoghutch, he ate all the chocolate and didn’t leave any!”
Bedcrash (verb) – When our children were small, they would often wind up in our bed for cuddles early in the morning before the alarm went off, particularly on Saturdays when we didn’t have to race to get up and go to school or work. They just loved to “bedcrash” and it is something I miss now that they are grown up!
Used in a sentence: “When the family came to stay, our children and grandchildren bedcrashed the next morning!”
Hobbintail (noun) – The credit for this one goes to Miss 17. When she was a little girl, she often asked me to tie her hair up in various styles. One that she frequently asked for was “hobbintails”.
I’m not sure how she came up with the name, but we knew exactly what she meant – the little pony tail (or two) made up of just some of the hair on the top of her head, while the rest hung loose down her back. I’m not sure what other people call these, so I think “hobbintails” is a brilliant name for them!
Used in a sentence: “Mummy, could I please have two hobbintails in my hair today?”
Do you think you might steal some of our words and add them to your family vocabulary? Do you have any invented words of your own?!
Ha ha Janet, love this post, particularly the hobbintails! I think the one word that my little boy made up when he was a toddler was ‘caballs’, which was his version of golf balls. We always laugh about this.
Cute! That’s like we call “Crazy Clarks”, “Crazy Clubs”, as that is what Miss 17 used to call it 😉
Where would we be without Shakespeare. Rae xxx
My son used to say oopsidentally as in “Sorry Mum I oopsidentally dropped it.”
Pinky you just reminded me of another one – a car crash is a “prang-ccident” – a combo of prang/accident! 😉
Haha Janet! I love the bedcrash one! Hobbintails is a good one too! I wonder what is the name in English… I French it’s “demi-queue” meaning half tail.